Analysts disagree about Apple iPhone sales figures

0.phoneArena
25 Sep 2013, 01:24posted on

On Monday morning, Apple announced that it had sold a record 9 million Apple iPhone 5s and Apple iPhone 5c units during the launch weekend and all was right with the world again; Apple CEO Tim Cook was once again branded a genius worthy of carrying Steve Jobs' jock and all of a sudden Samsung was relegated to the position of a pesky competitor to Apple...

60.Sauce (unregistered)

Just like when a musician's album goes Gold or Platinum, they are more than likely counting the amount of units sold to retailers and not to actual customers. An artist can sell one million records without ever actual selling anywhere near that. I don't believe Apple, or any other company for that matter should be able to count units sold at retail or as upgrades either. Only new activations.

This is probably true. As an Apple fan I was shocked to see such large sales numbers considering how disppointed I was in the phone itself. They can mark-to-market all they want now and boost their image in the short run but they can't run from Q3 numbers next month.

Alright, so Apple increased its 4th quarter outlook from the lower end of their estimates to the higher end (34 to 37 billion expect 36+ they say and expect higher margins than before as well around 37%). This coupled with "9 million" is amazing and magical as well. But not all is clear in Cupertino since last year they made sales of 36 billion with margins of 40%. But even with that last year they were derided for going downhill with their money making for once. So this year they should have expected to make just as much and then some but actually expected less? I doubt it, likely playing the under promise and over deliver game. But they are still under promising because this time they should be making more money on all their products. Cheaper to make iPhones in both regards (5c definitely and 5s is on a very mature process with a cheaper to produce chip (die shrink) and only fingerprint sensor (very cheap simple components) as new components). So expect them to release slightly better financials (unless something goes terribly wrong) and most analysts to forget for the most part that it is all just a numbers game.

Well... I think Apple paid PA to raise up the review and give the iPhoneys/iPuny a 9+ score to pick up sales... but that also didnt go well as planned... 9.3 and 9 for the iphone is kind of unusual from PA... iPhone 5 got only 8.5...

This is nothing new, every year their "sales" numbers are units shipped out of Foxcon, not units actually sold to end uses. To me that is a big difference, but what do I Know. Any company could make 10 million of an item and ship them somewhere but that to me does not constitute a "sale". They never take into consideration the number of unsold units that are still sitting in store or else where. Artificial #'s Inflation!

Interesting that the iPhone 5c didn't sell nearly as many units as were in Apple's inventory. As for the 9 million sales potentially being false, I'm a little surprised. Apple is disingenuous about many things, but sales figures are one thing they've never really been dishonest about before.

Of course, if their weekend sales really did collapse that badly, they would have every reason to lie.

"Of course, if their weekend sales really did collapse that badly, they would have every reason to lie."

There are actually 2 stories about an Apple sales fail.

The next story will be about the exchange of 5Cheap units for 5S stock. The 5Cheap phones won't be selling, and in about two months, the carriers are going to start the return process. If Apple is lucky, they will swap the 5Cheap returns for 5S stock.

There is no exchange with Apple, the carriers wish they could. Why did more lower end iPhone models sell last year you ask then the high end model every quarter? Well that is because carriers started to actively push the lower end to decrease inventory and lower orders for the high end 5. That is why all last year the stock kept dropping due to men results. That and they started to push droid phones because those make just as much money and can be returned or exchanged by the carriers.

Then Apple screwed their partners yet again. What ever quantity of 5Cheap phones were sold to carriers will likely only be replaced as those units are sold. The problem with multiple colors is that certain colors are more popular than others. Not being able to exchange unpopular colors for more popular ones is going hurt sales. I expect there will be even more cannibalization of the iPhone sales than occurred last time around.

No wonder Apples share price took a hit right after the 5Cheap was announced. Long term outlook doesn't look that good, either, especially if the 5S sales are soft.

I've always been suspicious about apple's sales figures. They never disclose how many new, used, restocked, refurbished, warranty, and insurance phones pass from them to (eventually) the customer. I will grant that iphones are popular, but their sales numbers and actual market share don't quite match. I'd be willing to believe the 2-5M sold, especially given production runs and timing (though there have been product leaks for months). 9M totally made and perhaps moved from china factories to the inventory supply chain (aka "shipped"), but unlikely 9M sold to customers.

Technically they are not wrong. It said they sold to carriers, so they have been sold. Now lets see how the carriers numbers turn out. I did find the 9 million number a little high being that many people said they were waiting for the gold model and there were no pre orders and supply was short. Interesting to see how this plays out.

To a point. If carriers aren't selling the phones they purchased, then over this quarter and the next, they won't be purchasing replacement units. If this is true, in the end it's not good for Apple sales.

Opening day sales are great if you break records but if your annual sales are lower, records don't mean much.

The carriers are in an agreement to buy "X" amount of iPhones from Apple over a period of time. For Sprint that deal was 30.5 Million iPhones over 4 years (deal set in 2011 for $20 Billion) so these were technically sold to the carrier 2 years ago and that money would have already been factored into previous quarters. Can't seem to find any details on the t-mobile and apple deal for some reason, my bet is Apple didn't want everyone to know how much their asking price had dropped in a year.

Carriers don't order or buy phones from Apple like they do other OEMs. Apple tells them they will offer the phone on their network as long as they agree to move a certain amount of phones which the carrier pays for regardless if they sell them or not. Again this is why these numbers are artificial.

Well I walked into an Apple store to buy one to craigslist and buy one for the company I work for like at 2pm on launch day. No chance I would be able to do that on the launch days of the iPhone 4, 4s, and 5.

I thought those numbers looked fishy especially when the shipping dates didn't get pushed back until a few days after launch. While iPhone 5 sold out online in minutes.

The writing is on the wall. Apple is slowly but surely going lose more and more of their market.

But if they are shipped, they are sold. Sold to a customer. Carriers are Apple customers too. Carriers do a deal directly with Apple. When a carrier makes an order, they much pay for that order, thus it is a sale. It is up to the carrier or retailer to sale their paid for stock to recoup there money. Which is why most retailers sale the phone for the exact same price as Apple does do they get back 100% of their money and then some. While carriers will subsidize the cost in 1/2, to get you to sign a contract and get their money via data plans and accessories.

Well yo be honest, for once. I had actually believed those figures, so it's kinda shameful if they do manipulate things to such extent. No company shall do such things because in one way or other, it is same as corruption.

I can 100% agree. I work for Verizon in the Seattle metro area. We have 75 plus Iphone 5c's in our inventory room just sitting there. After launch weekend which wasnt very impressive, not many people seem that interested. A few preorders for the 5s but that's it. The 9 million is way off if my store is any reflection of Iphone sales.

I'm at a Sprint retailer in upstate ny that usually pushes around 200 phones per month, close to 300 for the holidays. Unfortunately, we were only given 3 5S and about 20 5C. The 5S sold out in a couple of hours, but we only sold one of the 5C all day. As of Tuesday, we still had 15 left... friends working at an AT&T store in the same mall paralleled our sales figures.

Between the preproduction problems and overall underwhelming excitement for this product launch, there's no way they sold a record number of these.

No, this is wrong: Apples numbers are absolutely correct for sold, not shipped: remember that the iPhone 5s and 5c launched in China also this time round in addition to other markets, so the 9 million number is pretty much correct for phones that walked out the door in the hands of happy customers.

Baloney. The Chinese market was already open to prior iphones and it is highly unlikely that the new models sold more than a few hundred thousand in its country of origin. There are much better and desirable phones already available, why would they settle an overpriced inferior product, especially one that has led so many of their fellow citizens to suicide?

I was wondering who and who that bought the new iphone
,cos here in Africa apple iPhone hardly see the light of the
Day. Apple just to match the competition they now had to
Lie about sale figure. I tire ooo

Mm it was weird not to see reports of huge iPhone lines or huge delay in orders despite having (from the start) a lower inventory of certain devices... But to think apple would lie about its sales figures just to raise some stock, wow that's quite the shock

Seems like you should ask your boss for a work phone so he stops calling you on your personal phone. If your job depends on them being able to contact you they should provide you with a work only phone. If your S4 is a work phone you need to get it serviced or you shouldn't be installing all the games and crap that bog it down. Out of the box a S4 runs like a champ. I suspect lies.

I thought it was pretty dirty of the author to try go discredit Peter Misek with that dig about the bad BlackBerry call. People make mistakes and sometimes have to take chances in stocks. It doesn't mean the guy is fabricating poor sales numbers for Apple. Just seems like reality is not setting in about Apple actually losing market share and they are. I really feel within a month Apple sales will drop off a cliff once the dust settles and the 4s people get their fix after skipping the minor upgrade to the 5.

Best new Android, iPhone and Windows Phone apps

Best new Android, iPhone and WP games

All content (phone reviews, news, specs, info), design and layouts are Copyright 2001-2015 phoneArena.com. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part or in any form or medium without written permission is prohibited! Privacy . Terms of use . Cookies . Team